One thing you can count on is this math prof on the run

Math professor Leon Ehrenpreis, 72, finds running in the New York Marathon exhilarating.

For most 70-somethings, 26 miles would be considered a nice Sunday drive. But for Temple math professor Leon Ehrenpreis, it’s just a nice Sunday run through the five boroughs of New York.

A resident of Brooklyn, Ehrenpreis competed once again on Sunday in the annual New York City Marathon, an event he has participated in since it began in 1970.

Ehrenpreis, who has been a member of the Temple mathematics faculty for the past 18 years, began running in 1969, when bursitis in his right arm forced him to abandon playing handball.

“My boyhood idol was Lou White, whom I used to play handball with,” said Ehrenpreis, who worked with famed mathematician John Nash in the late 1950s.

“White used to run marathons,” he added. “He would ride his bike up to Boston, run in the marathon, then, a few days later ride his bike back to New York.”

Ehrenpreis’ first marathon was the inaugural NYC Marathon, and he claims he is just one of two or three runners who have competed in every one. Last year, he finished 51st in his age class. This year he finished 67th.

Ehrenpreis trains by running the five-and-a-half miles around the Coney Island Beach near his home with a friend about three times a week. As the marathon approaches, he increases his running to three or four trips around the beach, four times a week.

And what does a mathematics professor do while running on the beach?

“I do mathematics problems in my head,” he said matter-of-factly, “but only while training. During the race you have other things to concentrate on.”

Ehrenpreis said that he finds himself exhilarated at the start of every marathon, and feels pretty good through the first 20 miles, almost the equivalent distance of four times around Coney Island.

“Then you hit the 24-mile mark and get a tremendous burst of adrenaline,” he said. “That’s why I run. I like that feeling. It’s a real high.”

In addition to the extra running, his preparation for Sunday’s run included a pre-race pasta dinner cooked by his wife.

“They say you should eat a lot of spaghetti; carbo-loading they call it,” he said. “I don’t know if it works, but I’ll do it.”

Another thing he does is enjoy the positive overall experience the NYC Marathon has become.

“In the beginning, the few people who came out to watch the marathon were quite antagonistic,” Ehrenpreis said.“They’d yell things at you like ‘I’ll bet you a quarter you can’t finish.’”

Now, the people who jam the race route are much friendlier toward the participants, he said. Like the year Ehrenpreis was running ahead of the time he had told his wife to meet him at the finish line.

“I ran over to this guy who was talking on his cell phone,” he recalled. “The guy immediately said goodbye to whoever he was talking to right away and let me call my wife.”

And, at 72, after running a marathon through the Big Apple, you would figure Ehrenpreis would be out of action for a while.

“I could go jogging by the next weekend,” he said. “I don’t usually, but I could.”

— Preston Moretz, News & Media Relations